


Remembered Promises

by LadyMeg



Series: Forgotten Secrets Triology [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Haunted House, Mulder just wants to see if the ghosts are real okay, Scully is grumpy, silliness, will these two ever get together?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 23:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9630323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMeg/pseuds/LadyMeg
Summary: 'Things you said with no space between us' prompt | "“Mulder! You think we’re here to uncover malevolent spirits who are using this haunted house to steal teenagers and kill them. Sorry if I’m being a kill-joy”





	

 

“Next thing you’ll be telling me you can win me a teddy bear” Scully scoffed as they paced around another stall with a selection of overstuffed toys on display. By her side, Mulder chewed happily on a stick of brightly coloured cotton candy.

“Well not with that attitude, I won’t, Scully. Although I could.” He stopped next to the shooting range and eyed it up for a moment, contemplating how difficult the game really was. “Yeah, I definitely could.”

“We both know my aim is far better than yours. But don’t get your hopes up, I’m not going to be wooing you with a fluffy pink bear today, Mulder. Sorry to shatter your dreams.” 

Mulder stuck his bottom lip out and pouted far too realistically, making Scully both laugh and roll her eyes. He was such a child at times, so why was she so fond of the overgrown infant? She guessed it was something to do with his rugged good looks and undeniable charm, but she sure as hell wasn’t about to say that out loud. Besides, she could feel that her energy was lagging and she was becoming grumpy so charming or not, she was getting pretty fed up with her partner dragging her around the fairground.

“Well, we’ve been here for what feels like three days and there hasn’t been one single otherwordly appearance. Surely it’s time to call it a day?” Scully asked, her voice sounding whiney even to her own ears. The smirk Mulder gave her didn’t escape her notice, but she decided to pointedly ignore it. They had been traipsing around the fairground for hours, had been on nearly every ride, and were yet to find the cause of the numerous mysterious disappearances that had been reported over the recent months. Mulder had been certain that the missing young girls were the result of the fairs haunted house being more haunted than one would really hope it to be, but Scully had put it down to teenagers being teenagers and simply running away from home. Nothing mysterious here, case closed, thank you very much, goodnight. Right now, she just wanted to get back to the motel room and put her feet up. And, hopefully, escape Mulder who was on a sugar high. The man had decided that seeing as he was so rarely able to go to the fair, he would indulge in every kind of fairground food whilst he had the opportunity. It had ended with a Mulder who was bouncing off the walls and a Scully who was quickly losing her patience.

“Come on, Scully. We can’t give up now. It’s finally getting dark. It’s the perfect time for the ghosts to come out and play.” She vaguely wondered if the thought of murder-ghosts should really cause anybody’s eyes to light up so much but channelled her energy into not letting out a sob of annoyance.

“Mulder, you’re right. It’s getting dark. We’ve been here _forever_ ,” a foot stomp would reinforce her point right now, but she refrained,  “Nothing has happened except you snacking on sugar all day. If you insist, we can come back tomorrow, but can we _please_ just go back to the motel? This is ridiculous. It’s a wild goose chase!” Mulder listened to her as he took an extra large bite of his cotton candy and forced it all into his mouth with the tip of his middle finger. Looking around as the sugar dissolved on his tongue, he eyed up the haunted house. The teenagers milling around were pointedly avoiding the attraction, all having heard the rumours of people going into the house and never coming out again. It was fodder for high school gossip and believe in the supernatural or not, no one seemed willing to take the chance of entering.

“Okay, let’s compromise -”

“Yeah, because you’re famous for your compromises” Scully muttered. Mulder continued, ignoring the interruption.

“Let’s have one more go in the haunted house, and then we can head off and come back tomorrow. The fair is only here for two more days, Scully. If we don’t find anything whilst we’re here, we’re just going to have to follow it to its next town.”

“We’ve already been in the haunted house” she stated, arms folded across her and one hip stuck out in the way which always made Mulder smile. How could someone so small ooze so much attitude?

“Yeah, but that was when it was light out, Scully. It’s dark now. Spookier” he wiggled the fingers of the hand which wasn’t holding the cotton candy stick in her face for effect. Swatting him away, Scully thought about the offer for a moment and then sighed heavily.

“Fine. But this is a pointless activity. And you’re paying” she unfolded her arms and buried her hands deep in her coat pockets as she headed towards the large, black house which blasted pre-recorded ghost howls and creaking door noises a little too loudly.

“My pleasure” Mulder grinned, slapping a note down in front of the young boy who manned the attraction.

“I’m not entirely sure what you’re expecting, Mulder. Travelling fairs and circuses have famously been used as an excuse for kids to run away from home. The fair comes to town, an unhappy teenager ‘disappears’, and the travelling folk are either blamed for their disappearance because the teenager couldn’t _possibly_ have made up their own minds to leave home, or they’re blamed for kidnapping and killing them and moving on. It’s been happening for centuries. When, in fact, it’s just the fair having come to town and people deciding that now is a good time to run away. Nothing more.” They turned left in the darkness and Mulder swatted a fake spider web away from his face.

“Well you really know how to kill the fun of the fair” Mulder deadpanned. “Can’t you just give this one to me, Scully? You’re really killing the buzz of the haunted house. I feel like I’ve wasted seven dollars here.” Scully let out a small laugh and stared at her partner in disbelief, nearly walking into a plastic skeleton but missing it as Mulder pulled her away at the last second.

“Mulder! _You_ think we’re here to uncover malevolent spirits who are using this haunted house to steal teenagers and kill them! Sorry if I’m being a kill-joy to your cheerful scenario”

“Yeah well, when you put it like that. Look Scully, just keep your eyes open for anything unusual. We need to stay vigilant here, we can’t miss a single thing. Look carefully at everything. Hey, how about we make it easier for you - I’ll look high and you look low” He smiled smugly into the darkness at his joke and patted Scully on the head, earning him a hard slap to his wrist.

“Shut up” she told him as they turned a sharp corner and entered a barber shop set up with a particularly bad waxwork of a man they could only assume was supposed to be Sweeney Todd. They had both laughed loudly at the unfortunate man as they had passed through the room earlier in the day, wondering how on earth anyone had ever thought that the wax model could be anything but humorous. Even Mulder had been forced to admit that there wasn’t a whole lot about this particular room which could be considered scary, from the clearly plastic blade held in the man’s hand, to the chair which was on a motion sensor and tipped backwards with a creak and a pre-recorded scream as people passed it by.

“And where exactly in this haunted house do you think it is your ghosts snatch customers? In here, as people are running screaming from the barber’s chair?” Scully asked with a roll of her eyes, looking the chair over one more time, waiting for it to swing backwards and the over-dramatic scream to be played before they move onto the next ‘event’ - some plastic spiders being dropped onto them from above in the next corridor. Terrifying.

“Well a place like this is bound to have endless secret doors for staff to come and go, Scully. There are always staff doors and fire escapes to ensure people can get in and out if they need to. It would be easy to drag someone out through them if they needed to. And anyway -”

“Mulder -”

“Spirits don’t need doors or entrances like the rest of us. You know this. The majority of spirits are able to pass through solid walls and doors to -”

“Mulder -”

“You asked me a question and I’m answering it, Scully. They don’t need doors and it would be easy to ensure that only one or two people are in here at a time by-”

“Mulder would you shut up for a moment,” she hissed at him. Her sharp tone caused him to stop and look at her, frowning.

“What is it?” he asked,

“Did… did that chair have fake blood on it when we came through earlier?” Mulder followed her eyes which were fixed on the padded chair, dimly lit by a spotlight above it. His heart skipped a beat.

“No” he said simply. Scully took a step closer to the chair and dipped a finger into the red liquid which was slowly oozing from the chair to the floor. Rubbing the liquid between her finger and thumb, she frowned.

“This isn’t fake” she said quietly, turning to him with her eyes wide. In the time since they had last been in the house and now, a significant amount of blood had appeared on the chair. Real blood.

“Are you sure?” he asked and Scully tutted quietly.

“Of course I’m sure.” They looked at eachother in the dim light for a moment, deciding what it was they were going to do but before they could speak, they noticed the background noise which had been piped into the house had stopped and they could hear nothing but their breathing which was becoming heavier as adrenaline began to course through their bodies.

They jumped as they heard a door somewhere in the house slam shut and the sound of someone laughing manically nearby.

“Agent Mulder. Agent Scullllllly” came sing-songing through the house and their eyes met, wide with panic.

“Sounds incredibly solid to me” Scully whispered as they heard heavy footsteps coming through the house in their direction. Mulder shook his head in response. Instinctively reaching out and grabbing her hand, he began to pull her quickly through the house, down twisted, blacked out corridors and through material draping from the ceiling.

“We’ve got to get out of here” Mulder whispered to her, the grip on her hand tightening.

“Mullllllllder. Don’t run from me, you naughty boy. I’m going to fiiiiind you” this time, the high pitched female voice sounded much nearer and Scully could feel her heart pounding in her chest as they moved through the dark. As they entered another room, she nearly let out a loud scream as a smoke jet was let off to her right and the room began to fill with white smoke. This room had been set up in a way reminiscent of an old ballroom, with tables draped with yellowing cloths and candlesticks covered in cobwebs. The smoke machine had made her jump earlier and Mulder had laughed loudly at her as she had held a hand over her chest. But he wasn’t laughing now.

“Mulder. The escape doors” she told him and Mulder stopped in his tracks. “There have to be some around here” she said as she frantically started clawing at the material which draped the walls, surely hiding emergency exits. Mulder began doing the same, desperately trying to find a way to get out of this wretched house.

“I can’t wait to play with you, Agent Scully,”  the voice cooed, “Where aaaaare you?”

“Mulder, over here” Scully whispered urgently as her hand finally came across a door and she ripped it open. Mulder darted over and through it, pulling her in behind him, but quickly slammed up against a wall. Scully shut the door behind him and then bowled straight into Mulder’s body.

“What the hell?” she whispered into the dark, her hand automatically reaching out to stop herself and landing on his chest.

“I think this is a store cupboard or something. There’s nowhere to go, Scully” he replied, reaching behind her to follow the walls and make sure there was no escape route, but all he felt was the enclosed space.

“Well what the hell are we going to do?” she hissed into the dark. “We’re being chased by who-knows-what and we’re stuck in a _store cupboard_. Mulder, this is ridiculous” she hissed into the dark. Mulder reached out and pulled her closer to him, tucking her head under his chin. He was surprised when she didn’t pull away.

“Oh, Muldeeer” the gleeful voice came again, ever closer. By Mulder’s guesstimations, whatever it was, it was only a room or two away and here they were, pressed together in an enclosed space, hiding. He was sure they had been in more difficult situations, but he couldn’t quite place them right now. But he was sure they had been. Probably.

“Is this a bad time to ask you on that date?” Mulder asked her, pulling away from her slightly and looking down in the darkness. He could almost see her frowning and looking at him with those patent ‘Mulder, you’re insane’ eyes.

“Really?” she asked, exasperation lacing her voice. Mulder shrugged.

“Doesn’t appear I’m going to get another chance. I don’t want to be the guy who died without asking you on a date” he was relieved to hear her short puff of laughter, her breath momentarily warming his chest. He hoped he was at least helping relieve her panic, even if for a second. He could feel the tension radiating from her and that was what scared him the most about this entire situation; Scully didn’t scare easily. And Scully, tucked up close to him in this damned cupboard, was scared.

“Come on, Scully. Look how romantic this all is.”

“Romantic?” she repeated, her voice dripping with disbelief.

“Mullllllllllder” they were closer. They were too close. Mulder felt his heart jump into his throat and the sound of his name being sung in that deranged voice. He wished he had rolled his eyes and gone back to the motel when Scully had suggested it, given in and dragged his feet behind her back to the car. It turns out that winning, being proven right as something chased them through the dark, wasn’t really worth it afterall.

“Yeah, romantic” he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her ever closer. “Pressed together in the darkness. Only our breath between us. _So_ romantic.” he heard a nervous laugh escape from Scully.

“Sounds almost like a third date to me” she said, an attempt to distract herself from whatever was about to happen. Their back-and-forth which was working to calm them both was abruptly interrupted. His hands suddenly stiffened on the small of her back as footsteps padded across to what sounded like right outside the door which hid them and Mulder heard Scully take in a deep breath.

“Oh Mulder. Scully. Come out, come out. I want to play” the voice cooed, followed by a heavy silence where all that could be heard was the quick breaths being taken by the two as they stood pressed together in the cupboard, unmoving. Mulder wondered if it was the most sinister voice he had ever heard.

He just about had enough time to agree with himself, that yes, it probably was, before the smoke machine which had previously caught Scully unawares was let off and shattered the stillness, although not nearly as much as the ear-splitting scream which followed it. The distinctive sound of laughing teenagers filled the room and Scully pulled back from Mulder, looking up to him with confusion in the darkness.

“Oh my god, Sarah! You scared the shit out of me!” More laughter came as a group of teens passed through the room, yelling and screaming.

“Ew. These spider webs are making my skin crawl” one of them declared. Another screamed and yelled, running from the room laughing. The rest of the group seemed to follow, giggling after her.

“What’s going on?” Scully whispered into the darkness.

“I’m not sure” Mulder whispered back, reaching over and pushing the door open slightly. The room outside was as they had left it, no sinister being hunting them down, no mysterious woman seeking them out. “I… I think whatever it was has gone. But let’s not take that chance, Scully. Let’s get out of here” he told her, reaching down and grabbing her hand. He pulled her behind him as they quickly darted through the rest of the rooms, out of the exit door and into the dusk air. The group of teenagers they had heard in the house were stood in a huddle, a couple of them with their faces lit up by their phones.

“That was shit,” one of them said, “not scary in the slightest.”

“You were screaming your face off!” another of them said, slapping her friend lightly on the shoulder.

“Was not”

“Liar”

Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.

“What just happened, Mulder? It knew our names. It knew who we were. And the blood…?” Scully asked him quietly, her eyes darting back to the haunted house. Mulder shook his head. He had no answer for her. He wasn’t sure what the hell it was that had followed them through the house, but he was sure it hadn’t had their wellbeing in mind.

“What’re we going to do?” Scully asked.

“Hey, you two” a young woman came from the house, waving her hand to get their attention. Mulder and Scully exchanged glances before turning towards the woman. “You guys forgot your photo” she was laughing as she came over to them, a photograph in her hand. “Seriously. You’re the best people we’ve had in the house for a while” a wide smile was spread over her face, her eyes crinkled. “Honestly, I don’t think we’ve got anyone that good for a _long_ time”. Mulder and Scully exchanged confused looks as she passed the photograph over to them. Looking down, they saw a photo of them both, holding hands and fleeing through the last room of the house. Scully’s eyes were wide and Mulder was looking back at her, his mouth frozen open as he yelled an encouraging “ _come on, Scully_ ” at her.

“You guys can have that one on the house. I think we’ll probably get it hung on the wall in the entrance” the young woman grinned. Suddenly, she twisted her face, reached her hands up with her fingers bent like claws, and crumpled one eye shut. “Good bye now, agents” she sang in the same haunting voice which had followed them around the house. As she walked away, she had her head thrown back with laughter.

“Hey, how did you know our names though?” Mulder called after her. She turned back to them momentarily.

“Oh, please. You two have been traipsing around here all day. It wasn’t difficult” she told them.

“And the blood?” Scully asked.

“Stage blood is pretty realistic nowadays. Not like it used to be” she winked, her laughter still audible as she disappeared back into the house. Mulder and Scully exchanged looks.

“Did we seriously just get set up that easily?” Scully asked, an eyebrow raised.  Mulder shook his head in disbelief.

“Come on, Scully. Let’s go back to the motel. And… let’s never speak of this again” he blushed in the night air.  

“Oh, the motel? My original idea? Yeah. Let’s do what Scully said all along” she sighed. Her hand still in his, he lead her back through the fairground towards the car.

“How on earth are we going to explain this to Skinner? We’ve spent the entire day at a fairground half way across the country for absolutely nothing”

“But what fun it’s been!” Mulder grinned. Scully rolled her eyes.

“Fun. Right” she deadpanned.

“I don’t know, Scully. We’ll think of something,” Mulder reassured her, “we’ll think of something over dinner.” His words made her heart jump a little and she tried to bite back the smile which was now playing at the corner of her lips

“You’re not going to give up on dinner now, are you?” He shook his head and swung their hands lightly between them.

“You were the one who told me to ask you out on a date” he reminded her.

“Yeah well it took you five years and a lot of alcohol for you to gather up the courage to ask me for one date. I didn’t quite expect you to ask again quite so soon.” Mulder laughed lightly. As they approached the car, Scully let go of his hand and made her way to the drivers side.

“Well you’ve broken through the barriers now, Scully. You don’t even know what you’ve let yourself in for” he grinned. Scully raised an eyebrow at him.

“I haven’t said yes yet, Mr. Presumptuous” Scully reminded him. “It’s like waiting for a bus with you; wait five years and absolutely nothing and then two date invitations come along at once” she teased. Mulder had followed her to the driver’s side of the car and she anticipated some kind of argument about who was driving as she fumbled through her purse for the car keys, but no such argument came. In fact, nothing at all came. Looking up at him in confusion, she wondered what on earth she had said. Mulder had one hand leant against the car and a particularly pleased-with-himself look on his face. “What?” Scully asked. A slow smile spread across Mulder’s lips. “What’s with the face?”

“Waiting, huh?” he asked. Scully frowned in confusion for a moment, and then rolled her eyes dramatically. Trust him to pick up on one word in the whole bunch that she had said. “You’ve been waiting for me to ask you on a date for five years? Oh, Scully. So patient. I’ll make sure this date is the best you’ve ever been on to make up for it, how about that?” he beamed down at her and Scully shook her head at him as she pulled the keys triumphantly from her bag.

“I haven’t said yes yet, Mulder” she reminded him again.

“Yeah, but you will. You’ve been waiting for _five years_ ”. She sighed. Dammit. He wasn’t going to let this go. She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from grinning stupidly back at him. Maybe it was a good thing he knew, especially if he lived up to his promise of making it the best date imaginable. That may even make the mocking worth it.

“Shut up, Mulder. Get in. I’m driving” Mulder looked at her for a moment, before quickly reaching out and snatching the keys from her hand. Scully yelped and grabbed for them, but was far too slow.

“Mulder. Keys. Now” she told him seriously, one hand open for the keys and the other perched on her hip. Mulder laughed. He knew the difference between angry Scully and faux-angry Scully - he’d needed to learn as a matter of survival, god forbid he think she was playing when she wasn’t.

“Say you’ll go on a date with me. In fact, no. I want to know what it was you said to me when I asked you the first time.” Scully crossed her arms over her front.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you got so drunk off your face that you couldn’t remember” she scolded.

“Come on, Scully. Tell me” he prodded, dangling the keys above him, far above her head. She looked up at the keys for a moment judging the distance. Lifting her arm and reaching up, she swiped at them but came up inches short. Groaning in frustration both at the keys way out of her reach and Mulder’s delighted laughter, she sighed.

“If I tell you, do I get the them back?”

“Of course” he said with an extra confirmation shake of the keys. Slowly, Scully brought her hands to her hips, looked up at Mulder through her lashes and took a step closer to him, invading his personal space. The keys dropped a couple of inches and Mulder took in a small breath. One small hand reached up and landed gently on his chest.

“When you asked me on a date the other night…” she started. Mulder gulped as her fingers slowly scratched down his chest.

“Yeah…” he encouraged.

“I thought about it for a moment”

“Yeahh?” he gulped. Her fingers curled and closed to a fist until just her index finger was stretched out. Her eyes on her hand, she bit her bottom lip seductively and carefully traced her finger down his chest, around his pectoral muscle and then up over his outstretched arm where she unfurled her hand and placed it on his bicep. With a gentle tug, she brought his arm down from the air.

“Mmm” she hummed, her hand now running down his arm. “And I told you that… yes. I would go on a date with you.” she finished simply. Mulder frowned at her abrupt ending. Meanwhile, her fingers reached his and plucked the keys easily from his hand. Scully giggled triumphantly at his confused face.

“That’s it?” he asked.

“That’s it” she said simply, taking a step back from him and putting the key in the car door lock.

“Nothing else?”

“Sorry, Mulder. No declarations of love just yet” she laughed, opening the car door and pushing him towards the passenger side by gently nudging him with her hip. The movement seemed to bring Mulder back to his senses, the bubble she had created by being so close to him seeming to have popped.

“I like the sound of that ‘just yet’, Scully” he winked. Scully rolled her eyes at her partner.

“Get in, Mulder. We’re not going to get anywhere with you stood there, gawping.” Mulder made his way to the other side of the car.

“I disagree, Scully” he told her across the roof just before she dropped into the driver’s seat. “We’re _definitely_ getting somewhere.” 

_fin._

 


End file.
